For years, perhaps even centuries, it has been an open secret in Rome: Some prelates in the Vatican hierarchy are, in fact, gay. But the whispers were amplified this week when Pope Francis himself, in a private audience, appeared to have acknowledged what he called a “gay lobby” operating inside the Vatican, vying for power and influence. Speaking to a meeting of the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women on June 6, Francis discussed a dossier he had received from his predecessor, Benedict XVI. “The ‘gay lobby’ is mentioned, and it is true, it is there....

HOUSTON – The Southern Baptist Convention, which represents thousands of churches that sponsor Boy Scout troops, approved a resolution opposing accepting gay scouts - with a top church leader predicting a "mass exodus" of youths from the program that has been a rite of passage for more than a century. The move came as the convention held its annual, four-day meeting in Houston, and three weeks after the Boy Scouts of America voted to allow gay youth to join. With more than two-thirds of Boy Scout troops sponsored by religious organizations, and Baptists being the nation's largest protestant denomination, the...

Ethics and Public Policy Center president Ed Whelan observed that those two BSA proposals shared on basic feature: "While purporting to allow (in the case of the first) or require (in the case of the second) troops to bar openly gay adult leaders, they threaten to fatally undercut the legal basis for maintaining that bar." Consider for a moment the irrationality of the new policy: a 17-year-old lifelong scout who is avowedly gay and also a youth leader, would, on his 18th birthday, be required to cease and desist being a Scout leader. Whether enforced or not, the situation would...

OAK RIDGE — Small bottles of brightly colored fingernail polish are lined up neatly on Marcel Neergaard’s dresser in his room, the décor of which he describes as having a “disco dancey feeling to it.” Posters of young male celebrities — Justin Bieber among them — are on the walls. Marcel uses eyeliner on occasion and puts on the nail polish “when he wants to feel special,” says his father, Mike Neergaard. Marcel is 11 years old and gay.

In a classic episode of "Seinfeld" entitled "The Outing," a student reporter is convinced that Jerry and George Costanza are gay. They strenuously deny being gay, while adding "not that there's anything wrong with that." The phrase almost immediately became part of the way Americans talk about homosexuality. The "Seinfeld" episode came to mind while reading recently about the brouhaha concerning Roy Hibbert of the NBA's Indiana Pacers. During a press conference, Hibbert used profanity and commented about being "stretched out" on the basketball court. And then he used the phrase "no homo." If you're unfamiliar with that phrase, you're...

DENVER — A gay couple is pursuing a discrimination complaint against a Colorado bakery, saying the business refused them a wedding cake to honor their Massachusetts ceremony, and alleging that the owners have a history of turning away same-sex couples. As more states move to legalize same-sex marriage and civil unions, the case highlights a growing tension between gay rights advocates and supporters of religious freedom. “Religious freedom is a fundamental right in America and it’s something that we champion at the ACLU,” said Mark Silverstein, the legal director of the group in .....

This is an excerpt The parents of a Tampa Bay student have started an online petition asking for improved tolerance training after their son was castigated for wearing makeup on the last day of school.

Having watched the news coverage and read numerous emails from concerned Baptists and Scouters, I contacted the Membership Impact Department at the National Office of the Boy Scouts of America, proposing an interpretation of the changes in the membership guidelines. Below is the text of what I offered as my interpretation. First, it is my understanding that the resolution clearly states that sexual activity among Scout-aged youth is contrary to Scouting virtues, and I take that to mean that so long as it is uniformly and equitably applied, a unit could have in its statement a list of behavioral expectations...

Tel Aviv hosted its 15th annual Gay Pride Festival on Friday, with a record-breaking 100,000 spectators and participants attending the celebrations, including droves of tourists from all over the world. The Festival began at 10 a.m. at Gan Meir park, home to the city’s gay community center, and featured performances, speeches and music. A massive parade of tens of thousands of participants started at 1 p.m., making its way from the park through central Tel Aviv and culminating at the iconic Gordon Beach. Attendees at the event included Finance Minister Yair Lapid, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Minister of Culture and...

On Tuesday, June 4, the gay lobby -- for the purposes here, "the Gay Left" -- was exposed for its intrinsically sociopathic tendencies. As the shock settles in about the Human Rights Campaign's possibly felonious violation of fellow citizens' civil rights, it is fitting that I should introduce the uninitiated reader to a basic overview of the Gay Left and the simultaneous totalitarianism and anomie that have shaped it since the famous Stonewall rebellion of 1969. In light of the fluffy report issued this week by the College Republican National Committee urging the right, in part, to abandon opposition to...

COEUR d'ALENE - The next step is taking a breath. A day after the Coeur d'Alene City Council adopted an anti-discrimination ordinance 5 to 1, Tony Stewart said the next move is, well, stopping and taking it easy. "We've been getting a lot of calls and emails," said Stewart, Human Rights Task Force on Human Relations member, on Wednesday on the positive feedback he had received from the previous night's vote. "These things wind up being a great celebration." And a lot of work. Stewart, who brought the ordinance to the city to consider, said months of studying went into...

It’s hard to find two women more pro-abortion than Marlo Thomas and Amy Richards. But the Girl Scouts love ‘em. These two feminists headlined a recent Girl Scout-sponsored live screening and panel discussion of the “acclaimed documentary MAKERS,” a feminist, pro-abortion, video narrative of “trailblazing” women whose “pioneering contributions” changed America. What kind of pioneering contributions? I’ll get to that in a minute. (Amy Richards’ ‘contribution’ particularly deserves comment.) But, first, a bit more about the Girl Scout-sponsored event. Billed as an opportunity to “celebrate women and girls,” the screening and discussion took place on May 9, 2013 in New...

<p>Despite a directive from a leader of the Great Salt Lake Council of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), prohibiting scouts from advocating political or social positions, some scouts and adult supporters of Scouts for Equality wore their uniforms Sunday as they marched in Utah’s gay pride parade.</p>

A few years ago, a gay English-speaking immigrant to Israel was standing in line at the post office for the very first time. Wary of using his limited Hebrew at the counter, the man, Phil, turned to a gentleman standing behind him and asked him if he spoke Hebrew and could help. That man didn’t just speak Hebrew. He was also gay, and friendly, and within days of that chance meeting waiting in line for postage stamps, Phil found himself completely tapped into the LGBT community in Israel. snip “If this group didn’t exist, I don’t know how I would...

Gay Therapy Gay conversion therapy, as it is known, supposedly helps gay people overcome same-sex attractions. But mainstream psychologists say the therapy is ineffective, unethical and often harmful, exacerbating anxiety and self-hatred among those treated for what is not a mental disorder. In 2013, two cases involving the therapy to convert gay people into heterosexuals hit the courts, with one seeking to sue counselors who offer the therapy and the other seeking to defend them. Here are five things you need to know about the therapy and the current lawsuits.

(click on the image above to go to the video)Hello everyone and welcome to The Vortex where lies and falsehoods are trapped and exposed. I’m Michael Voris. Have you heard all those loud lamentations from the Church of Nice over the collapse of the Boy Scouts in the face of the homosexual juggernaut? Yea .. didn’t think so. That’s because there aren’t any. Right on cue .. predictably .. the American Patriotic Church immediately deflected the central issue and went straight to a side issue that couldn’t be more irrelevant. According to media reports .. Edward P. Martin, chairman of...

For the Rev. Ernest Easley, the decision to cut ties with the Boy Scouts was simple. The Bible says homosexuality is a sin. The Boy Scouts do not. “We are not willing to compromise God’s word,” said Easley, pastor of the 2,300-member Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga., which has sponsored Boy Scout Troop 204 since 1945. Easley, chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention’s executive committee, said his church will shut down its troop at end of the year because of a recently adopted policy to allow openly gay scouts. He’s urging other Baptists to do the same. Roswell...

<p>CARMEL, N.Y. (AP) — The duo voted "cutest couple" in the senior class at a suburban New York high school say they're getting teased about it — but not because they're both boys.</p>
<p>"Yeah, our friends are giving it to us about being Internet famous," said 18-year-old Dylan Meehan, a senior at Carmel High School.</p>

Almost overnight, the gay community has gained two new icons: Vincent Autin and Bruno Boileau, the Frenchmen who married in the southern city of Montpellier on Wednesday, in the centre of a political firestorm. From one point of view, the whole thing was rather quotidian. The grooms wore dark suits and ties, and were married in Montpellier city hall. The ceremony was conducted by the Socialist mayor Helene Mandroux, and the music included songs by Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole. If you took away the heavy security presence and the frenzied media attention (the wedding was broadcast live on...

Nashville woman who found herself face-to-face with a “big, burly” cross-dresser in the ladies room of a family restaurant felt her horror turn to anger after a restaurant manager suggested she try the men’s room. Transgendered people in several states have been fighting for the right to use public restrooms that correspond with whatever sex they consider themselves, with lawmakers in California and Massachusetts providing support for the idea. But David Staton, whose wife had the disquieting run-in while eating out at Amerigo, a restaurant in the country music capital, has a simple solution.

Last week, the Boy Scouts of America made its landmark decision allowing gay Scouts to be members (but not adult leaders), and while many liberal organizations are pleased, America’s largest Protestant church organization seems poised to cut off ties with the Boy Scouts in protest. More than 70 percent of Boy Scout troops across the country are sponsored by religious organizations. Many sponsorships come from the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination with more than 47,000 churches. Now, Frank Page, president of the SBC's executive committee, says it’s time for its congregations to cut all ties with the Boy...

The dust has scarcely settled from the Boy Scouts of America’s landmark vote to allow openly gay young men and boys to participate in scouting, yet already another controversy is brewing with parents and churches caught up in the crossfire. Nationwide, congregations and families are coming to terms with the BSA policy change. In an effort to remain strong in their biblical convictions, many are being forced to cut ties with the BSA despite years of financial support and mutual trust. But in doing so, their decision to withdraw support of the nation’s largest scouting organization has come under scrutiny...

A tepid, superficial and unsatisfying movie by HBO has brought the spectacle of Wladziu Valentino Liberace -- better known to the world simply as pianist-showman extraordinaire Liberace – back into America's living rooms and consciousness more than 25 years after his death from AIDS complications. Liberace led as fascinating and tragic a life as you could imagine, one that deserved a deeper, more comprehensive treatment than what director Steven Soderbergh served up Sunday night. Aside from the absurdities of casting the very homely Michael Douglas as the superstar pianist (and the 42-year-old Matt Damon as his “teenaged” lover, Scott Thorson),...

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow’s May ratings were her worst monthly showing since The Rachel Maddow Show debuted in 2008, and the liberal network suffered double-digit drops overall in primetime viewership (20 percent) and the 25-54 demographic (19 percent) from last May, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Partly to blame for Maddow’s drop are the continuing woes of All In with Chris Hayes, which began in April to replace Ed Schultz and has been a ratings flop. Maddow even finished behind perennially struggling Piers Morgan: The soft start for All In With Chris Hayes has not helped. Hayes, down 32 percent...

If you, like me, are worried about the Islamization of the West because it will erode our civil liberties, like freedom of speech and freedom of conscience, you should carefully consider that there are other trends in our society that have nothing to do with Islam but are taking us in the same anti-libertarian direction, both giving too much power to the government and at the same time paving the way to quasi-totalitarian societies, thus indirectly enabling Islamic supremacism to flourish and do its damage. I am examining here the case of Britain, but the pattern is similar in many...

Full Title: Leading Rabbi ‘mortified’ after Biden praises Jews’ ‘immense influence’ in promoting gay ‘marriage’ WASHINGTON, May 27, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A leading Rabbi says he is furious after Vice President Joseph Biden credited Jewish leaders last week for the success of same-sex ‘marriage’ in America. “The Jewish people have contributed greatly to America. No group has had such an outsized influence per capita as all of you standing before you,” Biden said last Tuesday night at a reception hosted by the Democratic National Committee in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month.

“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mark 8:36) It’s a sad day for both Scouting and for freedom. Indeed, it’s a sad day for America. The century-old Boy Scouts of America (BSA) – created in 1910 to “prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes” – has betrayed its own constituency, mission, oath and law. Last Thursday, approximately 1,400 adult BSA delegates from around the country gathered in Texas and decided, in a disgracefully lopsided vote, to welcome into its ranks, “open and avowed” homosexuality (boy-on-boy sexual...

(OnMyHonor.Net is the nationwide coalition of concerned parents, Scout Leaders, Scouting Donors, Eagle Scouts and other members of the Boy Scouts of America who are united in their support of ScoutingÂ’s current membership policies and their opposition to the proposed resolution which requires open homosexuality in the Boy Scouts.) On May 9, 2013, pro-resolution BSA officials issued a document entitled Â“Membership Resolution Points of ClarificationÂ” which appears to be a direct response to OnMyHonor.NetÂ’s Â“Ten Reasons Delegates Should Vote NoÂ”. This is a point-by-point response to the Points of Clarification written exclusively for voting BSA delegates.First, the single most important...

YBOR CITY - Officially recognized by the Hillsborough County Commission for the first time, this year's GaYbor Days events continue Sunday in Ybor City. GaYBOR Days, a weekend packed with shows and events to promote gay-owned and gay-friendly businesses in Tampa, is hosted every year by the GaYBOR Coalition. The coalition is made up of almost 300 businesses throughout the Tampa Bay area, said Carrie West, the group's president. The weekend is meant to promote the Ybor City area, showcase businesses and show that Tampa is a good destination for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. “We're doing very good,”...

(First Published in Gay Community News, Feb. 15-21, 1987 and also put into the Congressional Record. Author - Michael Swift) We shall sodomize your sons, emblems of your feeble masculinity, of your shallow dreams and vulgar lies. We shall seduce them in your schools, in your dormitories, in your gymnasiums, in your locker rooms, in your sports arenas, in your seminaries, in your youth groups, in your movie theater bathrooms, in your army bunkhouses, in your truck stops, in your all male clubs, in your houses of Congress, wherever men are with men together. Your sons shall become our minions...

Protect your children from 'Harvey Milk Gay Day' Why is a predator of teens being honored in schools? Every year, Harvey Milk "celebrations" are held at participating government schools in K-12 classrooms and assemblies -- around May 22. Get informed and protect your child. How "Harvey Milk Gay Day" is indoctrinating children in classrooms and assemblies WATCH: The facts about Harvey Milk (3-min)

Under President Obama, “justice” is anything but blind. Neither is it deaf. In fact, based on recent revelations, it appears to be watching your every move and listening to your every word. Still, if you happen to be a federal employee, now it’s even listening for your silence. The only thing this Obama White House seems to generate is scandal. Well, here’s yet another to add to the growing list. In addition to the Benghazi cover-up, IRS targeting of political dissenters and the illegal seizure of media phone records, whistleblowers within DOJ have contacted Liberty Counsel to express grave concerns...

<p>TBILISI, Georgia (AP) -- Thousands of anti-gay protesters, including Orthodox priests, occupied a central street in Georgia's capital Friday, with some threatening to lash with stinging nettles any participant in a gay pride parade which was to take place there.</p>

When momentous events happen like the election of a new president, White Bear Lake resident Laurie Wenker makes sure to get two copies of that day's newspaper to tuck away in memory boxes for her teenage daughters. She did just that -- and more Tuesday. Wenker and daughters Eleanor, 16, and Lillian, 13, joined a crowd of an estimated 6,000 people who gathered at the state Capitol to witness Gov. Mark Dayton sign a bill legalizing same-sex marriages in Minnesota. "I wanted my kids to experience history, to take in and breathe in the equality in the air," Wenker said.

As the broadcast TV channels prepare to reveal their fall schedules this week, the renewed-or-canceled announcements that blasted out at the end of last week have already determined one characteristic of the 2013-14 TV season: It will be a lot more heterosexual than the current season, which officially ends next Wednesday. Among the shows that won’t be back next year are The New Normal, Go On, Smash, The Office, 1600 Penn, Happy Endings, Don’t Trust the B___ in Apartment 23, 90210, Emily Owens, M.D., The L.A. Complex, Partners, and Southland, all of which featured gay or lesbian characters. (You can...

CAHOKIA • A Cahokia High School assistant teacher and coach has been charged with having sexual contact with a teenage boy and transmission of HIV. Mario L. Hunt, 35, of the 1900 block of Florence Street in Cahokia, was charged in St. Clair County on Monday with criminal sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual abuse transmission of HIV. The offenses happened with a 17-year-old boy during the first six months of 2011.

<p>"So what would possess the BSA to risk embarrassing themselves on a national stage by opening back up such a controversial and divisive issue when months earlier they proclaimed they had the "absolute best policy?"</p>
<p>For me, the answer to that question was found in a little chicken wing and pizza restaurant right across from my office in Orlando, Florida last year in the summer of 2012. I was at this dive of a restaurant I frequent and happened to see Tico Perez..."</p>

In 2011, a little boy became the victim of gay adoption laws. Perhaps he was difficult to adopt due to having a substantial speech impediment and only began communicating at age three with sign language. This is the vulnerable population of children that are considered ‘un-adoptable’, perhaps. These are the poor children whom the gay community say they are ‘rescuing’ from adoption homes. These are the children that are being experimented on by our Godless society today. “Let’s see if two lesbians or two gay men can raise a child as well as a proper male/female married couple. This grand...

Colonel Tim Collins has acknowledged the possibility that a teenage soldier who allegedly committed suicide may have been a victim of a "homosexual predator" at a time when both men were under his command. The commanding officer of the 1st Bn the Royal Irish Regiment, who was internationally praised for a rousing speech before the Iraq conflict, conceded in a confidential report that he "would not have them (homosexuals) in proximity of young soldiers again" following the death of Ranger Paul Cochrane. The controversial circumstances of the 18-year-old soldier's death led to an Army board of inquiry report, chaired by...

After three hours of noticeably civil debate and personal, sometimes emotional speeches, the Minnesota House passed a bill Thursday, May 9, that would make it legal for same-sex couples to marry. The bill is scheduled for a vote Monday in the Senate, where leaders have said they have the votes to approve it. Gov. Mark Dayton has said he will sign it. If approved, the law would make Minnesota the 12th state in the nation to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry. It would take effect Aug. 1. The House vote was 75-59. All but two of the 73...

Gay activists show up with dirty hands to protest Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, are denied entry NEW YORK CITY, May 7, 2013 (LifeSiteNews) – After Timothy Cardinal Dolan wrote a column comparing practicing homosexuals and others who approach Holy Communion in a state of serious sin to children who fail to wash their hands before supper, homosexual Catholics and their supporters showed up for Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral with filthy hands as a form of protest, and were denied entry. Joseph Amodeo, the organizer of the protest, said that the act of dirtying their hands was an attempt...

Minnesota might be poised to become the 12th state in the nation to legalize gay marriage, as House leaders prepare for a floor vote Thursday, May 9. House Speaker Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, said he believes the 73-member DFL majority has the 68 votes needed to pass the bill allowing same-sex couples to wed, even without a single Republican vote. As of late Tuesday, no GOP House members have said publicly they would vote "yes." Meanwhile, Senate Democratic leaders say they also have the votes to pass a same-sex marriage bill, and DFL Gov. Mark Dayton says he'll sign it.

Mixed in with the multi-pronged attack Progressives are staging on society is their takeover of our education system. As America battles with left-wing ‘educators’ and their agenda of indoctrination, Canada’s school system finds itself deeply ensconced in the New Age muck. Canadians know the tribulations of one Jessie Sansone, the Ontario father who unexpectedly found himself in handcuffs when he tried to pick his daughter up from school. His home was ransacked by cops, his child taken away by Protective Services, his wife interrogated, all for an inexcusable crime: his daughter drew a gun in class. The fallout caused even...

Former megachurch pastor Rob Bell appeared in a recent radio discussion with Christian British minister Andrew Wilson to discuss his new book, What We Talk About When We Talk About God, and grew frustrated when pressed by Wilson to explain his theological reasons for affirming homosexuality and same-sex relationships. Bell and Wilson appeared on the U.K. faith debate program "Unbelievable?" hosted by Justin Brierley on Premier Christian Radio. Wilson is a published theologian and elder at Kings Church in Eastbourne, East Sussex. The men, moderated by Brierley, started the discussion by debating various issues during the hour-plus program, but it...

"There’s a brouhaha a-brewin’ over comments by Niall Ferguson at an investor conference. Ferguson suggested that because John Maynard Keynes was gay, effete, and childless he might have lacked concern for posterity. After all, Keynes famously proclaimed ”in the long run we’re all dead.” In a nigh-upon hysterical and terribly written item, Tom Kostigen of Financial Advisor says Ferguson took “gay-bashing to new heights.” He adds, “Apparently, in Ferguson’s world, if you are gay or childless, you cannot care about future generations nor society.” Now, I don’t know exactly what Ferguson said, and I don’t trust Kostigen’s version of events either. There are few full quotes and virtually...

As expected, the media has crowned Jason Collins, the first openly gay NBA player, the new Jackie Robinson, and the Human Rights Campaign has called Collins a “hero for our own times.” His actions were deemed worthy of a personal phone call from President Obama, who told Collins that he “couldn’t be prouder.” Without disparaging Collins personally (I understand he had a great reputation among his teammates), here are some reasons why he is absolutely not the new Jackie Robinson. When Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947, there were no black equivalents of prominent and influential gays and lesbians...